A TEENAGER raped a schoolgirl who was so drunk she could not walk or talk.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, attacked his 15-year-old victim after taking her to a secluded area on playing fields in Bradford after a group of young people had gathered for a party organised via Facebook, the city's Crown Court was told yesterday.

Prosecutor Michael Smith said the complainant, who also cannot be identified, had been drinking vodka and was led away from the group by her attacker who told her that another friend wanted to speak to her.

He took her to a more secluded part of the fields where he sexually assaulted her. He then took her to another part of the fields where he raped her.

When officers were called to investigate the attack on the girl they found her unresponsive to their questions, withdrawn and upset.

When her attacker, then also 15, was questioned about the alleged offences he told officers that the girl was "out of it", but he claimed that anything that happened was with her consent.

It was not until his trial was listed at the Crown Court that he pleaded guilty to charges of assault by penetration and oral rape.

Mr Smith referred to a victim impact statement in which the complainant described how her social life and school work had both been badly affected by the attack.

The boy's barrister David McGonigal said Judge David Hatton QC was in the unenviable position of having to balance the need to punish his client for serious offences together with the principles for sentencing youths.

The court heard that the boy had no previous convictions and Mr McGonigal said his client had expressed genuine remorse for what he had done.

Judge Hatton said the complainant had drunk a considerable quantity of alcohol, but that was not a criticism or castigation of her.

"It is something of which you were well aware and you took advantage of that to satisfy your feelings of excitement at that time by taking her away from the crowd and engaging in some sexual activity with her to which she did not, and in her condition could not, consent," the judge told the boy.

Judge Hatton said if the boy had been an adult a significant sentence of imprisonment would have been a necessity, but he was even now barely 17 and at the time of the offences he was 15.

"Offences of this nature particularly upon young girls can cause untold trauma and damage which may last for many years and this girl has certainly already suffered a degree of that," added Judge Hatton.

But Judge Hatton said he had to take account of the principles for sentencing young offenders which were very different from those relating to adults.

He said those principles included the rehabilitation and integration offenders into a responsible society and he conceded that it was a difficult balancing exercise.

After reading a detailed and thorough youth offending team report on the boy Judge Hatton decided to impose the youth rehabilitation order which will include two years' supervision and a four-month night-time curfew.

"So you are going to be under very close scrutiny for a long time with the youth offending team," he told the teenager.

And the judge said he was reserving any breaches of the order to himself.

The teenager will have to sign as a sex offender with the police for the next 30 months and the judge imposed a lifetime restraining order which bans him from having any contact with the complainant.

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